Teller Report

Politician in Kiruna stops radio broadcasts: "Want to have safer conversations"

2/10/2023, 5:22:00 PM

For 14 years, the culture and education board in Kiruna has broadcast its meetings via the local radio so that the public could take part in the discussions - but now the new management is putting an end to that.


The reason why meetings are no longer public is that the members want better opportunities for trusting discussions in the committee.

- It becomes more trusting if no one listens, says Emilia Töyrä (S), chairman of the Culture and Education Committee.

"No need for two meetings"

In the previous mandate period, there were two board meetings.

One in the morning that was not broadcast and one in the afternoon that was broadcast to the public.

- Two board meetings on the same day, so that one of them is to be broadcast on the radio, we felt was unnecessary.

It also takes up a lot of time for the employees in particular.

"Citizens can contact the politicians"

Emilia Töyrä further says that it has never been decided in the council to have committee meetings broadcast on the radio.

She does not see it as a democratic issue or that it affects the transparency of the committee's work.

- The case list will be available to everyone on the website and citizens can contact politicians and administration with their questions about the cases being processed.

Hear Emilia Töyrä tell why they are stopping the radio broadcasts.